27 April 2009

TEDGlobal 2009: First speakers announced

Can an airplane fly around the Earth powered only by solar energy? How can we observe what we can’t see? Can we save the Internet? How does the brain create the mind? Can we back up biodiversity?

These are just some of the questions that will be answered at our upcoming TEDGlobal 2009 conference in Oxford, UK, on 21-24 July 2009.

Registration for TEDGlobal is open >>

TEDGlobal is TED’s twin annual conference. It will feature four days of provocative talks, relevant discussions, technological boldness and amazing performances that will take us beyond the obvious. The program is designed to explore and make visible “The Substance of Things Not Seen” — this year’s theme.

Among the TEDGlobal 2009 speakers who are bringing their ideas worth spreading to Oxford:

Swiss aviator Bertrand Piccard, who’s building a plane to fly around the world on solar energy; star designer Stefan Sagmeister; Internet generativity theorist Jonathan Zittrain; biodiversity archivist Cary Fowler; Shock Doctrine author Naomi Klein; computer interface wizard John Underkoffler; Emmanuel Jal, former child soldier turned rap star; global crime specialist Misha Glenny; social neuroscientist Rebecca Saxe; astronomer Andrea Ghez; novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie; economist Paul Romer; Willard Wigan, who sculpts literally in the eye of a needle; arctic swimmer Lewis Pugh; and European music’s rising star Sophie Hunger.

More speakers and details on the TEDGlobal 2009 program page >>

As always as TED conferences, the program is only part of the experience. TEDGlobal 2009 in Oxford will also feature:

+ exclusive pre-conference visits, open only to attendees, including tours of Unseen London, Bletchley Park, the Culham nuclear fusion reactor, the Bodleian Library, the MINI factory, Broughton Castle, and more.

+ TED University: every attendee will have the opportunity to pitch a short “lecture” and give it on the TED U stage, the best of which will be featured on TED.com

+ special evening events and parties at some of Oxford’s most amazing landmarks.

+ plus the TED classics: awesome tech demos and art exhibits, beautifully designed simulcast lounges to watch the speakers in a relaxed mood, etc

Registration is open for TEDGlobal in Oxford, UK, July 21-24, 2009. The conference ticket costs US$4,500, and a limited number of reduced-rate registrations are available for US$2,000.

More information at conferences.ted.com/TEDglobal2009